The defiant chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee called for an ethics investigation of his own conduct Thursday, saying he wants vindication of his use of congressional stationery to seek meetings with corporate chieftains to discuss a public service center named for him.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., a 19-term veteran who took over the panel chairmanship last year when Democrats regained control of the House, wrote to executives and foundations seeking meetings about the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, which will house his papers once he retires. Rangel already has secured an earmark for the center and is helping raise money for it.

Rangel released samples of the letters and noted that they do not directly ask anyone for money.

Rangel called the news conference to respond to articles and an editorial in The Washington Post about the letters.

“I’m going to see how much damn ink The Washington Post has,” he said during a combative, discursive 48-minute session, at times questioning reporters.

The Post story, first published July 15, said, Rangel “has penned letters on congressional stationery and has sought meetings to ask for corporate and foundation contributions for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, a project that caused controversy last year when he won a $1.9 million congressional earmark to help start it. Republican critics dubbed the project Rangel’s ‘Monument to Me.’”

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, has also called for an ethics investigation into Rangel’s letters. If Boehner or anyone else does not file the necessary formal request by next week, Rangel said, he will file it himself.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asked about Rangel’s move, said, “I support his request.’’

The powerful New York Democrat has also come under fire this month for taking advantage of four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, an arrangement first reported July 11 by the New York Times.

As a matter of routine, the ethics committee opens a preliminary inquiry on every complaint filed by a member of the House.